Silence Therapeutics plc, AIM:SLN (“Silence” or “the Company”) a leader in the discovery, delivery, and development of novel RNA therapeutics for the treatment of serious diseases with unmet medical need, announces that it has today issued a claim in the UK High Courts of Justice (Patents Court) naming as defendants Alnylam UK Limited, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc, and The Medicines Company UK Limited.

Silence has previously stated that it is committed to defending its Intellectual Property (IP) and to secure the appropriate value for this IP, it will act to enforce its patent estate as necessary. The claim asks the Court to determine whether Silence is entitled to “supplementary protection certificates” (SPCs) on several late stage Alnylam products, which include Patisiran, Fitusiran, Givosiran and Inclisiran (partnered with The Medicines Company), and could result in the extension of Silence’s European patent protection on these products. SPCs are intellectual property rights which can give up to 5 years of exclusivity after a patent expires. Separately, Silence is actively continuing to uphold its patent estate in other global regions.

Ali Mortazavi, Chief Executive Officer of Silence Therapeutics, commented:
“We reiterate, as stated in our press release on 30th May 2017, that we consider potential licences under our patent estate could have a significant financial effect relative to the current market capitalisation of Silence. As such, we consider the commencement of this process to be the next step in realising this value."

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Silence Therapeutics develops a new generation of medicines by harnessing the body’s natural mechanism of RNA interference, or RNAi, within its cells. Our proprietary technology can selectively inhibit any gene in the genome, specifically silencing the production of disease-causing proteins. Using our enabling delivery systems, we have achieved an additional level of specificity by delivering our therapeutic RNA molecules exclusively to target cells. Silence’s proprietary RNA chemistries and delivery systems are designed to improve the stability of our molecules and enhance effective delivery to target cells, providing a powerful modular technology well suited to tackle life-threatening diseases.